The guest
Neal Brennan: Comedian, co-creator of Chappelle's Show, and writer/director of the Netflix specials '3 Mics' and 'Blocks', which blend stand-up with personal mental-health monologue.
What this episode covers
Neal Brennan joins Joe Rogan shortly after releasing his Netflix special 'Blocks', and the two open on cults, charisma, and why people gravitate to confident leaders. They spend a long stretch on COVID policy, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, the nursing shortage, and the lab-leak hypothesis, plus Joe's handling of the Spotify/Neil Young misinformation controversy. The conversation widens into free speech, Elon Musk's Twitter, bot/troll farms, Kyrie Irving and Amazon, January 6th, election integrity, and whether any 'board' could ever arbitrate truth. They also dig into the psychology of fame and online validation ('the juice'), relationships and gold-digging, and Neal's life as a comic. It closes with psychedelics, climate trade-offs via Bjorn Lomborg, and a sprawling riff on evolution and the universe creating itself.
Recommended on this episode
MediaRecommended
In and of Itself
Derek DelGaudio
“one of the best taped live shows you'll ever see; it's [ __ ] excellent”
“has a show called in and of itself on Hulu that's a magic show I don't really like to call it a magic show”— Neal Brennan
MediaRecommended
Kids
Larry Clark
“one of my favorite movies”
“do you remember kids dude remember the movie kids is one of my favorite movies”— Neal Brennan
ProductRecommended
Wonder (AI art app)
“it's [ __ ] really fun very good and funny as [ __ ]; you could do it endlessly; it's amazing”
“there's a one an app called Wonder and just hours why just Neil Brennan at NASCAR and just the photos”— Neal Brennan
The guest's own work
MediaBy the guest
Blocks
Neal Brennan
“this one's called blocks the new one on Netflix well I'll take the the three mics one I did”— Neal Brennan
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
MediaReferenced
Hacking Democracy
“I remember that HBO documentary hacking democracy where they took these um I think they were die bold computers”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America
“tweeted a link to Amazon for a documentary called Hebrews to Negroes she Brews to Negroes wake up Black America which includes extensive anti-Semitism”— Joe Rogan
BookReferencedISBN verified
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
“remember that book the protocols of the Elders of Zion no it's it's just a conspiracy”— Joe Rogan
BookReferenced
A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn
“Howard zinn's history of America are we doing the textbooks history of America we're doing critical race”— Neal Brennan
ProductReferenced
Sidekick
“I remember having like a sidekick in O3 and being like pretty hooked on it yeah like pretty quickly”— Neal Brennan
MediaReferenced
Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste
“did you watch the uh the orgasm Inc documentary on Netflix yet no it's about that one touch it's it's really fun”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Holy Hell
“the documentaries called holy hell I still haven't watched it it's on my list wild it started out in Los Angeles”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert
Richard Pryor
“did you ever see uh Richard Pryor live um the one he filmed in Long Beach yeah where he goes on stage”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Euphoria
“Fahim has a really funny joke about about uh euphoria the HBO show that's the one about kids”— Neal Brennan
Big reveals from this episode
- Neal describes a nightclub thumping bleeding into the audio during the monologue about his dying father at his first Netflix taping, which they had to scrub thump-by-thump.
- Neal confesses to craving online validation ('the juice'), taking Instagram off his phone, then reinstalling it on release day and feeling himself turn into a 'despot in exile.'
- Joe explains why he made his Neil Young/Joni Mitchell response video and how Spotify handled the boycott.
- Joe and Neal agree any truth-arbitrating 'board' is impossible because nobody can agree who should sit on it.
- Neal says a psychedelic (bufo/5-MeO-DMT) experience moved him from atheism, but that he encountered only 'indifference' and a 'super powerful force.'
- Joe lays out his cosmology that humans are an 'amoeba stage' and the universe may be making itself through evolving life into a god-like energy.
Worth remembering
- George W. Bush reportedly practiced his swaggering walk, which 'in Texas is called walking.'
- Adjusted for its older population, Florida fared better than many states by staying open while protecting the elderly.
- Kyrie Irving was pressured to apologize and donate for linking to an antisemitic film that Amazon itself was selling for ~$11 to rent.
- Myanmar military personnel posed as pop-star fans on Facebook, flooding it with hate to help incite ethnic cleansing.
- A 60 Minutes segment described voting machines kept off the internet, paper-based, and counted onto disconnected drives.
- Dunbar's number suggests humans are built to really know only about 150 people.
- Bjorn Lomborg argues raising poor nations economically prevents more deaths (heat, tuberculosis, malaria) than a narrow climate focus.
- Somali pirates originally called themselves 'The People's Coast Guard of Somalia' after foreign ships dumped toxic waste and overfished their waters.
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